World Cup KO: En-ger-land, En-ger-land, En-ger-land (was 'Group G')

Comments

If, say Sam had come into this tournament and his main method of scoring goals/creating chances was corners/set pieces he would likely have received pelters because the natural instinct by many is to dislike him

However, if Southgate does it, he is seen to have given the team “an identity” and everyone warms to him

Last year England was 10th in the ELO rankings (a lot more accurate than the FIFA ones), as of last night we are 7th. Not as good as Germany, Spain or Brazil but better than Portugal, Argentina and Italy.

I still wouldn't say England are a top 10 team, but I certainly would say now, we have moved into that 10th - 15th bracket comfortably. I think before the tournament we were probably around the 20th - 25th mark.

Southgate hasn't only relied on set pieces, and the style of play is very different to what Sam would have almost certainly done. We wouldn't have seen the defenders play out confidently with Sam in charge, we wouldn't have had such a young side, we would have been far less likeable as a team, IMO.

Southgate has had an easy ride from the press, but I think he's only had that because he has earned it.

Southgate was pretty roundly mocked as an appointment. He’s turned that around and earned himself space from the press.

There’s a lot more there to praise than I think is being suggested, even if thete’s also a lot to address.

Lingard put in a lot of work and helped make England look dynamic, even if he faded in parts of games.

Sterling needs to work on his finishing but he absolutely terrorised Croatia early in the game and did similar against Sweden. He stretched the back line like no one else. Rashford doesn’t have the same impact because he seems to want to take players on himself rather than run off the ball.

Alli was not as good as we’ve seen for Tottenham but he still provided the only midfield creativity - winning the free kick and several smart through balls in the game that other attackers didn’t make the most of.

The whole defence were generally pretty good. Kane did his job for a while. England have some really good RWB options.

I don’t think you can say with certainty what Sam would/would not have done with a longer reign. He was the one who gave Reece Burke a run of games at West Ham. And when he had us flying at the start of one of his seasons with us the football was v pleasing on the eye. Who knows what he would have done with a full complement of player me to choose from at national level. What I am certain of though is that the media would have been circling around him like vultures waiting for any small opportunity to swoop

I wonder if the header from Perisic to Mandzukic to score their second would have been different if Trippier hadn't shoved Perisic in the back. The ball certainly would have taken a different trajectory and may well not have found Mandzukic. ;hmm

Wasn't his fault, Stones let Mandzukic run right by him. Momentary lapse of concentration on his part. Which was amusing considering he supposedly had cramp and needed lifting to hit feet from Alli and Co. lol

I don’t think you can say with certainty what Sam would/would not have done with a longer reign. He was the one who gave Reece Burke a run of games at West Ham. And when he had us flying at the start of one of his seasons with us the football was v pleasing on the eye. Who knows what he would have done with a full complement of player me to choose from at national level. What I am certain of though is that the media would have been circling around him like vultures waiting for any small opportunity to swoop

Games all about ifs if Carrol and Wilshire had been fit they’d have been on that plane

At the end of the day, I think the only real difference between the sides was Perisic. Yes, Croatia were stronger mentally and dominated but they weren’t doing all that much with it without him. He had the sharpness and drive to get ahead of walker for the goal, get that shot off that hit the post and nudge it to Mandzukic. Just a quality England didn’t have when they were on top

I thought it was very refreshing that there was no rolling around in the game, and virtually no diving either as far as I can remember.Suze, did you get a chance to correct the Argentinian girl on your course? ;biggrin